Late drought ends UT upset bid

Late drought ends UT upset bid

KNOXVILLE - Tennessee and second-ranked Kentucky were tied at 54 with seven minutes left Saturday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena.

A six-minute drought ended any thoughts the Volunteers had at an upset.

The Wildcats grounded out a tough 65-62 road win in front of a capacity crowd at Thompson-Boling Arena by using an 11-3 run to erase an eight-point second-half deficit and outscoring the hosts 11-8 down the stretch.

UT's afternoon was highlighted by freshman Jarnell Stokes' dazzling debut. The stout, 6-foot-8 forward from Memphis finished with nine points and four rebounds in 17 minutes. Stokes hasn't even practiced for a full week, but he made a hook shot, a jumper and drew an offensive foul in his first appearance.

Kentucky scored eight points in a row as UT failed to score for 6:18 and took a 62-54 lead. Anthony Davis capped the run with a hook shot with about a minute left. After Skylar McBee and Cameron Tatum made 3-pointers, UK's Darius Miller calmly sank two free throws with 19 seconds left to ice the game.